Hark
by DearJanuary
Summary: Just a collection of songfics revolving around the New Directions. Feel free to request any songs or characters. I'll do my best.
1. In Your Arms (Ryder)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.**

**Feel free to request a song or Glee characters. I will do my best.**

**One: In My Arms by Plumb**

Her eyes had dilated to the size of golf balls now. She had been lying curled up on her side on his futon with a nervous face for three and a half minutes now, each crash thunder causing her eyes to grow more and more. He knew she was scared, but Ryder couldn't help himself, but be humored. She was only three and her experiences with thunderstorms were limited. Facing her, he lay uncomfortably on his side and reached over to keep rubbing her back. Even though she was still the very definition of young, Ryder couldn't put his finger on where the time had gone. It really did seem like she was just six pounds, five ounces and coming home from the hospital for the first time.

"Daddy, I'm scared." She whined, whispering with both her thumbs tucked between her teeth, worried the thunder might hear her if she was too loud and take her away.

"It's okay, sweets." He assured her, moving a little bit closer and lying his bicep over here for protection. It was nice to be needed especially with everything that was currently happening in his life. This was his first weekend with his daughter since being kicked out of his house and he was glad she still felt she could come to him with her fear. The pitter-patter of her little bare feet across his apartment's bare floor frightening him at first until she appeared in the doorway in her kitten pajamas and terror painted over her face. "Daddy's here. It's just rain." He assured her, cooing over her curly brown hair. She must have inherited her kinky hair from her mother's side since he had no memories of relatives with curls like she had sprouting from her hair like pig's tails.

Without realizing that she had the power to break his heart, her bottom lip quivered and she began to cry.

"I want Mommy." She buried her face into his bare chest, staining his stomach with her warm tears.

"Oh, Eva." Ryder sighed, distressed by the words that so honestly just fell out of her mouth. He hugged her close to him like she would her stuffed black cat and rocked her against him. After swallowing around the hard lump around his throat, he began to sing in a whisper with his head over hers, just the simple song of 'Hush Little Baby'. She always seemed to love when he sang to her, usually reasoning that she couldn't sleep unless he did. He had even called her the first night away from home to sing her to sleep with a lullaby since his wife wouldn't allow him to come over and tuck her in. As he sang, Eva just continued to weep, shaking every time the thunder howled. Sometimes, it felt like the building was shaking.

"I want Mommy. I want Mommy. I want Mommy." Eva kept repeating over and over, her voice warbling as she was practically praying against Ryder's bones.

It crossed his mind to put on clothes and just drive Eva home in the storm, but he worried what his wife would say if he showed up at two in the morning, returning their daughter home to her exhausted and worked up. He was already losing his marriage, the last thing Ryder wanted was to be considered an unfit father or simply a bad one.

When his wife confronted him at the kitchen table, just minutes after he had put Eva to sleep, and said that she wanted space, wanted him to leave, that she couldn't be around him anymore, all he could think about was his little girl. He didn't want her to grow up bouncing from home to home, to be raised by another man that wasn't him, to think even for a moment that she didn't have her dad at her disposal. He just wanted what was best for Eva, what would make her happiest. However, he couldn't say he was surprised by his wife's request. He hadn't been as affectionate as he used to be, he didn't want to spend as much time with her as he used to, and was always finding things to do that didn't include her. Maybe, that was just as much being a bad father as not being able to calm his daughter down was. It was a cliché case of not knowing what you have until it was gone.

While Ryder truly did want to try to work things out with his wife, he was still focused on Eva pressed up against his body under the covers. He kissed the top of her head and ran his hand soothingly down her brown locks. He wanted her to know what his wife clearly didn't, that she would always be safe with him, in his arms. So, he rocked her gently and went back to singing his lullaby, hoping she could fall back asleep soon enough or that the storm would die down.

Tomorrow, he would make her pancakes. Tomorrow, there would be sunshine and they could go feed ducks at the nearby park. Tomorrow, he would be the best Dad in the world.


	2. Get On The Road (BurtCarol)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. **

**Get on the Road**

_**Inspired by the song by Tired Pony**_

**Requested by Linneagb. Thank you for reading.**

Conversation had always been strong between them. They always felt that was what they did best in their relationship: communicate. After Finn's death though, silence ran rapid in their house, like ghosts playing bombastically in the hallways and overhead while they picked at their dinner plates. What can you possibly talk about after your son dies? Even important discussions don't hold any weight. Nothing feels significant after you bury your baby. Everything sounds like picking out paint samples or mundane muttering about the weather, no matter what the topic is.

Burt used to crack jokes as soon as he came home after a day of work. It was what Carol looked forward to on her way home, but now they were both lucky if they heard the other come through the door. A smile was rarity, but when they could manage to turn the corners of their lips upward, the two parents instantly felt guilty for enjoying a moment without Finn. The only way they knew how to punish themselves was with more deafening silence or to walk away and cry privately. Carol favored the shower while Burt took to the garage usually.

Even though after he graduated high school, Finn was usually anywhere, but home, their house still radiated with memories of the quarterback in every crevice and corner. She would open the linen cupboard to put away folded towels and his California Raisins pillowcase from when he was a toddler and was scared of the dark would fall down, like a bomb, releasing a mushroom cloud of depression over the rest of her day. The garage radio played Van Halen on days when Burt was feeling strong, like he could retreat back to his old self again, reminding him of how Finn would blast their album from his bedroom and nearly shake the whole house with the volume. It was nice, little memories of him creeping up through the speakers of his truck, but it was still always hard. Sometimes, it was all they could do to get out of the house. Carol would rush out of the front door and climb behind the wheel of her small Honda civic, gripping the leather wheel and just drive. There weren't safe locations, she raised her son in Lima and there was left over pieces of him evident in grocery stores, cafes, and playgrounds. She would just drive and let her mind clear itself until it was as empty as her gas tank threatened to become. Burt had the same approach; he would avoid going home, and drive the longest route possible back to his place after work.

"Oh damnit." Sighing quietly, Carol muttered as she reached the front door, her autumn coat on and open over her sweatshirt and jeans. She had her car keys clutched in her hand, ready to escape the memory of her son for a few hours.

"What?" Burt didn't look away from the blue television glow that illuminated in front of him, but he acknowledged his wife's displeasure. He wanted to be there for her, he just didn't know how at the moment. It was hard enough to look after himself most days.

"I was going to go out, but I…my car is in the shop." She remembered, leaning her forehead against the wooden door like she needed to rest it right then and there or she would just collapse on the shoe mat. She needed her oil changed, but as soon as she dropped it off at Burt's after work, he found about twelve other fixes he wanted to make. She liked the idea of him being kept busy, so she didn't argue and just waited for her co-worker to pick her up and help her home.

"Where did you have to go?" Burt slowly left his spot in the living room and leaned against the wall, sad at the sight before him, his formerly cheery and upbeat wife slumped over like a broken wind-up toy. "I can drive you."

She didn't anywhere that she had to be though. Carol just wanted to get out, she wanted to just drive away and feel a sense of relief even if it wasn't at all real.

"Just out." Reluctantly, she answered, her face still against the door. "I just wanted to go."

Burt's hand found its way to her back side, giving her a light massage over her shoulders before she turned, eyes wet, but no tears on her cheeks and met his solemn expression. That was always enough for Carol, seeing Burt broken, and the tears fell as she leaned against him. His chest fell inward and he ran his hand down her hair while clutching her to his chest like he needed to feel all her bones against him in order to feel better.

"Let's go for a drive." He whispered, nodding overhead before looking down to find her eyes with his own. "Let's go." He repeated, reaching for his flannel coat hung up in their open closet. They had finally got around to cleaning out Finn's stuff from it last week and donating the coats and boots to the local Salvation Army.

With his keys in one hand, he held his wife's tightly in the other and led them out of their house. They didn't know where they would go or could go, but they would get away together and, maybe, when they ran out of road, things would feel okay.

**Feel free to request a song or characters. I'll try my best. Thank you.**


End file.
